Trypsin, an animal-derivedproduct, is the most commonly used enzyme for harvesting cells in culture.Trypsin is a pancreatic serine protease (proteolytic enzyme) with specificityfor peptide bonds involving the carboxyl group of the two basic amino acids,arginine and lysine. Trypsin often contains a crude mixture of lipases,nucleases, polysaccharides, and proteases extracted from porcine pancreas.

Most cell culturesgrow as a single-cell thick layer or a sheet attached to a substrate known as amonolayer. When subculturing adherent cells, these intercellular andcell-to-substrate links or connections must be gently dissociated. Proteolyticenzymes such as trypsin (i.e., a serine peptidase), break or gently separatethese bonds by creating a single-cell suspension from which new subcultures arerealized. Trypsin solutions are widely utilized as cell dissociation reagentsfor continuous cell culture of adherent growing cells. Trypsin proteolysis ortrypsinization is a process in which proteins have been digested or treatedwith Trypsin and are thus said to be trypsinized. VivaCell’s Trypsin isdesigned not only to gently dissociate cells from almost any support substratesbut also as well as from each other in order to actualize cell manipulationtechniques in addition to other studies that require intact cell-surfaceproteins. Trypsin, as a solution, is available in a varied array offormulations with or without EDTA. EDTA is a chelator that binds calcium andmagnesium ions that may otherwise inhibit the trypsin activity which thenhydrolyzes and gains access to the intercellular bonds being cell-cell and/orcell-substrate bonds. Trypsin is often the subculturing agent of choice forcell dissociation/disaggregation of adherent cells although the treatment maybe cytotoxic if prolonged. Over-trypsinization is a common cause of subcultureproblems.

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